BIOL 1208

LSU Department of Biological Sciences Lab Report Writing Guidelines

Barry Aronhime, Leaf Boswell, Ginger Brininstool, Mindy McCallum, Jane Reiland, Johnna Roose, and Brooke Trabona

The most important rule: Always keep the reader, your peers, in mind.

SPECIFICATIONS

• Exact requirements will differ among courses

• Do not include any names in the paper or within the file name
• Formatting: narrow margins; single-spaced; Times New Roman 11- or 12-point font; page numbers bottom center
• Include headers and sub-headers as seen underlined below (only)
• Paragraph form
• Use third person, passive voice throughout and the appropriate tense for each section
• Use APA style for citing references
• File format: PDF (.pdf)

TITLE
• Concisely convey what was done in the experiment
• Include independent and dependent variables
o Do not need to include treatment specifics (can be broad)
• Include the scientific name(s) of model organism(s)
• ‘Concentration versus pH’ is not a good title

ABSTRACT
• Choose the most important information. What would you tell your peer about the experiment in a brief conversation?
• Include ~2-3 sentences from each section of lab report:
o Introduction: importance of the study, research question, and prediction
o Methods: 1-2 sentences from each subheading (Data Collection and Data Analysis)
o Results: main trends (no specific values unless the value itself is a vital finding of the study)
o Discussion: interpretations, big picture (real-world application)
• Should be no more than one-third of a page

INTRODUCTION
• Start broad
o Background information:
▪ Include relevant background information (include in-text citations)
 Explain important topics in the study. The level of detail should be specific to your audience.
 Discuss your model organism(s) or study system(s). Why is it an appropriate model organism(s) or
study system(s)?
 Breadth should be based on the experimental question.
o Advertise: Why is this study important? Why should the reader care? Relate the study to real-world problems.
• Narrow towards your study
o Introduce the problem or pattern to be studied
• End narrow
o What is the objective of your study?
o Include research question, hypotheses, predictions, and reasoning
 Hypotheses and predictions should be in future tense
 Hypotheses should include:
• Independent and dependent variables
• Treatment specifics
• Specific reaction and/or model used
• Significant difference/effect (for hypothesis testing)
 Prediction should include both variables and state expected direction

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● In-text citations should be included throughout for the background information and prediction reasoning (see
Reference List section)
o Use external sources (not lab manual)
o Do not use direct quotes

METHODS
• Use third person, past tense, passive voice
o Ex: ‘___ was measured…’
o Do not reference your instructor, lab partners, or yourself.
• Only include important information that the reader (competent scientist, peer) needs.
o Assume the reader understands how to use equipment. Do not include steps like how to calibrate a
spectrometer, use a pi-pump, prepare a smear, measure canopy cover, etc.
o What methods are relevant? What statistical analysis should you use? What diversity index did you use?
o What methods are not relevant? Do you need to explain how to calculate the area of a rectangle or that you
labeled the tubes?
o Include appropriate statistical analysis, but do not explain what those analyses are.
o Include all relevant methods for all data presented.
• Use sub-headings to help group and organize methods (Ex: ‘Data Collection’ and ‘Data Analysis’)
o Data Collection:
 Include overall important steps in chronological order
 Include the source of your materials
 Define your variables and treatments in logical order
• Do not use arbitrary or meaningless treatment labels (like A, B, and C); the reader should not
have to refer back to understand a label.
 Include the set-up of your replicates, either concisely written in the text or as a table with a complete
caption
 Include equipment parameters (like wavelength)
 Include in-text citation for lab manual (or other source) (see Reference List section)
o Data Analysis:
 Include important calculations and relevant equations (like converting to concentration using a
standard curve)
 Include statistical software used
 State what type of data collected (means and standard deviations, etc.)
 Mention types of graphs produced (Ex: scatterplot of means and standard deviation; bar graph of
means and standard deviation at 100 seconds)
 Include what tests were run (Ex: ‘An ANOVA was run and a p-value was obtained on the data at 100
seconds.’)
 Do not explain each calculation or statistical analysis (assume reader understands)
 Do not include results or interpretations
• Add reasoning to the beginning of sentences when necessary
o Ex: ‘To increase accuracy, three replicates were used for each treatment.’; ‘To calculate concentration, the
equation for the standard curve was used.’
• Write in your own words; do not copy straight from the lab manual (must cite lab manual)
• Cite literature for methods of common techniques
• Be concise (do not include irrelevant information)

RESULTS
• Often the shortest section, but very important
• Use past tense
• Do not discuss hypotheses, predictions, or interpretations
• Four major points of a results section (may be combined for flow):
o 1. Write results in terms of trends.
o 2. Include important/meaningful values.
o 3. State statistical significance if relevant.
o 4. Explain figure(s).
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o Ex: ‘Plant height increased significantly with nutrient addition (p = 0.03, Figure 3).’

TEXT
• Generally, include one paragraph before each figure with reference to figure
o In past tense
o Include both variables
o Include facts only (no interpretations)
o State trends in data
o Include important values with units, like mean ± standard deviation, etc.
o Include result significance (p-value)
• Statistical results should be in parentheses
o ANOVA Ex: ‘Average mass gain differed between the three populations (p = 0.003).’
o t-test Ex: ‘The average mass gain of population B was significantly lower than average mass gain of
population A.’
o Regression Ex: ‘The rate of mass gain in population A increased at a rate of 0.002 kg/month (p < 0.0001,
Figure 4). The rate of mass gain for population B, however, showed no significant growth over the course of
the study (p = 0.81, Figure 4).’
o If the results were significant, indicate the direction.
 Ex: ‘Average fitness and male size was correlated across population B (p = 0.003, Figure 4). Larger
males were more fit.’

FIGURES
• Purpose: visually represent trends (scatterplot) and comparisons (bar graph)
• Should be large (at least one-third of page generally)
• Must reference in the text by number
• Label axes with units
• Include legend with descriptive labels for scatterplots
• Include t-test letters above bars if applicable (insert text boxes on figure)
• Caption:
o Components: Figure #. Title statement. Additional information.
 Number: numerical order throughout document (Ex: Figure 1, Figure 2…)
 Title statement: general statement (not complete sentence)
 Additional information: in complete sentence(s) to help figure stand alone, including relevant
statistics
 Be concise, but include all relevant information (variables, treatment specifics, means, error bars,
standard deviation, t-test letters, etc.)
 Do not include results
o Format: below and same width as figure

TABLES
• Must reference in the text by table number
• Do not include raw data tables or table with descriptive statistics and hypothesis tests
o All important information from those tables should be either in the figures or text.
• Caption:
o Components: Table #. Title statement. Additional information.
 Number: numerical order throughout document (Ex: Table 1, Table 2…)
 Title statement: general statement (not complete sentence)
 Additional information: in complete sentence(s) to help table stand alone, including relevant statistics
o Format: on top and same width as table

DISCUSSION
• Start narrow
o Prediction and hypotheses
 Tie interpretations to the prediction.
 Null hypothesis: reject or fail to reject
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 Alternative hypothesis: reject or support
o Interpretation (Why?)
 Make sense of your findings.
 Include both variables in interpretations.
 Do not report values again unless absolutely necessary (p-values, F statistics, etc. are not necessary).
 Do not lie. If you did not find a difference between treatments, do not write about differences.
 Support with literature; use in-text citations. (see Reference List section)
• Use external sources (not lab manual)
• Do not use direct quotes
 Unexpected results: When are unexpected results from experimenter error? Are errors genuine errors?
If not, think of (and read about) some possible explanations for the unexpected results.
• Do not be quick to discredit yourself. Think beyond human error. Is your study system the
same as other studies (cite)? Are the methods the same (cite)? How might those differences
affect results?
o Limitations (be specific and logical)
 What could be influencing the data other than the variables measured?
 Procedural and experimental errors, etc.
• Did you add the correct amount of epinephrine? If so, is it possible that smooth muscle may
have a different response to epinephrine than cardiac (cite)?
• End broad
o Assign significance to your findings.
o Big picture:
 Relate your findings to your experimental question.
 The breadth of discussion should match the breadth of introduction.
o Relate to real-world applications
o Include ideas for future studies, like ways to improve the experiment.
 What future studies could you conduct that may build on your findings?

REFERENCE LIST
• Use primary, reputable sources (Google Scholar, Web of Science)
o Include external literature citation for reasoning (not lab manual)
o Use CRAAP method to ensure sources are reputable
• In-text citations must be in the Introduction, Methods, and Discussion sections
• Include lab manual citation for Data Collection in Methods (provided below)
• Use APA style (see format guidelines)

APA IN-TEXT CITATIONS

• In-text citations belong in the text that is being cited, usually at the end of a sentence.
o Standard format: (Lastname, Year)
o One author: (Darwin, 1859)
o Two authors: (Smith & Jones, 2010)
o Three to five authors: (Gregg et al., 2019)
 Use et al. for in-text citations if there are three or more authors.
o For more information: Purdue OWL (In-Text Citations)

APA REFERENCE LIST

• The references page, which should be the last component of the document, includes a list of full citations of all the
sources used.
• The entries should be alphabetized and include hanging indents after the first line of each entry.
• Standard formats:
Website:
Lastname, F. M. (Year, Month, Date). Title of page. Site name. URL

Journal (online):
Lastname, F. M., & Lastname, F. M. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, Vol. (Issue), page numbers. DOI
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Book:
Lastname, F. M. (Year). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher Name.

• Example for BIOL 1208 lab manual:

Gregg, C., Trabona, B., Brooks, M., Reiland, J., & Pomarico, S. (2020). Biology 1208: Biology Laboratories for
Science Majors. Plymouth, MI: Hayden McNeil Publishing.
• For more information: Purdue OWL (Reference List)

WRITING TIPS
• Sentences should flow within a paragraph and be enjoyable to read.
o Avoid things like ‘The dependent variable is…’, ‘The research question was…’
o To help sentences flow and improve clarity, put related terms together.
• View each section as somewhat independent; you do not want the reader to have to flip back to another section to
understand the experiment.
o Include treatment specifics in each section.
● For experiments using a spectrometer: Absorbance should only be discussed in Methods since only used as an indirect
measurement of concentration.
• Remember: ANOVAs compare the means of three or more groups, so the p-value is a result of analyzing all
treatments and should not be reported separately for each treatment.
• The Student’s t-test should only be included if the results were significant; do not mention it at all if the results were
not significant.
• Although experiments were broken up by week, write as if it was one big experiment.
• The names of chemicals, enzymes, etc. should not be capitalized.
• Independent and dependent variables do not have to be explicitly identified; they can be inferred from the text.
o Ex: The independent variable was ___, and the dependent variable was ___.
• Do not include raw data.
• Do not use contractions.
• Spell out numbers greater than ten when appropriate.
• Use third person, passive voice throughout and the appropriate tense for each section.
• Go through your paper with the assignment instructions, rubric, writing guide, etc. to make sure everything is
included and in the proper section.
• Proof-read your paper to check for grammatical, sentence structure, and spelling errors.